SMW2: Yoshi's Island, rewritten
by McKnight
Summary: Discontinued. When Mario is transformed into an infant, it's up to his current girlfriend, Hikari, to find Princess Peach and return him to normal. Slight xover with the Makeruna! Makendou series.
1. Enter Hikari and Joe

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Hikari or anything related to the Super Mario series. I do own Joe, though.

**Note: **In this fic, Mario is currently twelve years old, as are Hikari and Joe, and doesn't know Princess Peach yet. In fact, this takes place before he's ever been on any of his own adventures.

**Warning:** Hikari will spend most of this adventure having a large, cone-shaped nose. If this makes you feel better, I once read a fic where Mario and Luigi's bodies swell up (titled Hopes For An Empire). Don't worry, though; it will be relevant. In case you're wondering how her nose could get much bigger, just make a mental picture.

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She wore a blue shirt and a matching skirt that came slightly below her knees. Her eyes were blue, like Mario's, except that they had black pupils instead of white ones. Her shoulder-length hair was light auburn, held back with a green headband.

"So, you said you've been on an adventure before?" Mario asked the girl as he walked down the beach with her.

"Sure have," the girl answered.

"Someone once told me I was destined to go on adventures. I think his name was Merlon, and he was obviously a wizard."

"Really?"

"I can't wait until I go on an adventure like you did. By the way, tell me about yours."

"Well, mainly, it was to learn how to improve my skills at Kendo." She then held out a small golden elephant statue. "My sensei gave me the Zoppiki Talisman so I could transform and increase my power."

Before she could continue, though, something flew right in front of them, and then confronted them.

"Hey, what's your problem?" the girl asked, looking face-to-face at what turned out to be a Magikoopa on a broomstick.

"My name is Kamek," the Magikoopa answered. "I have predicted that your boyfriend will prevent King Bowser from ruling the Mushroom Kingdom. As long as I am alive, that prediction will never come true."

The Magikoopa then chanted a magic spell, and aimed it at the girl. Upon impact, the girl's nose suddenly changed from the normal anime-type nose to a large, cone-shaped one slightly larger than a party hat, barely fitting between her eyes and mouth but tilted slightly upwards as to allow her mouth to still be visible.

"Whoops, that was the wrong spell," Kamek said upon realization.

Mario, not knowing of his jumping ability yet, then picked up a stick and approached Kamek with it, but the magician cast another spell milliseconds before impact. This time, the spell turned Mario into an infant. Suddenly, he felt something pelting her in the back. When she turned around, she saw a human boy and some Shy Guys armed with slingshots. The girl took this opportunity to slash Kamek with her sword. She made a successful hit, but the best it did was send him to the ground, with only a slice across the side of his face. Some red, bird-like creatures with tiny propellers on their heads rushed to Kamek's aid, but the boy drew something out of his pocket. He flung the card into the air, and the birds turned into tiny hopping stars which fled. In a panic, Kamek took off on his broomstick and fled as well.

_What was that all about,_ the girl thought, as she picked up Mario…no, Baby Mario. That's when she suddenly faced the boy that assisted her less than a minute ago.

He was the same height as the girl, and probably the same age. He wore light blue shorts and an orange shirt with the word "WAI" written on it. His hair and eyes were both brown, and he wore a red bandana which covered most of his hair, except for some rather long bangs on his forehead.

"My name's Joe," he initiated. "You okay?"

The girl's face suddenly turned red from embarrassment. With the obvious exception of Mario, most humans' noses were tiny, even speck-like when seen from a distance. Mario wasn't the least bit embarrassed about his nose, despite that difference, but then again, his wasn't as big as this girl's.

"Thanks," the girl answered, "I'm Hikari, and this little guy here _was_ my boyfriend Mario. Gee, I'm supposed to be his girlfriend, not his mommy. Go figure."

"I was just in the middle of some target practice with these Shy Guys, until I heard the commotion from nearby. I noticed that a spell was also put onto you—"

"Wait, let me guess, my nose got a lot bigger."

"Yeah, but it's also cone-shaped. It looks cute, though."

"From what I understand," one of the Shy Guys started, "there is a princess that can reverse magic spells such as the ones inflicted on you."

"That's exactly where I was getting at," said Joe.

"Okay then," Hikari started. "First, we find this princess so that she can heal us, then we hunt down Kamek, or whatever he said his name was."

"Okay, so that's the plan, now we need to know where to go," Joe picked up.

"Actually, you'll find both of them in King Bowser's castle," another Shy Guy informed. "The princess is currently a prisoner at the Castle of King Bowser. In fact, that Magikoopa is a general of his. She came to prevent Mario from reaching the castle."

"Well, I've got a map of this island, so we're all set," Joe said.

"Be careful," the first Shy Guy warned. "Many of our kind and other species have been tainted by Kamek's magic in order to prevent you from reaching your destination."

"Oh, good," Hikari replied. "Then I can put my sword to the real thing instead of having to practice at home." She then turned to Joe, drawing the Zoppiki Talisman out of her backpack. "Joe, recite with me to increase your power." For the next five seconds, they both spun around faster and faster, until…

"MAKERUNA MAKENDO!" they both shouted, while making a unique pose each. Their clothes had also changed. Hikari was now wearing a red shirt with short, white sleeves. Her skirt was now white, was much shorter now, and sported a large yellow bowtie on its backside. Her hair now sported a golden tiara with a shiny blue stone on it. Joe's shorts were now black, and his shirt was now violet. It was complemented with a blue vest and a pair of belts forming a cross over his torso. His bandana was now blue, and instead of having two large flaps coming off the end, it now had one large, multi-folded flap.

"No rotten evildoers are gonna stand in our way to Bowser's Castle," Hikari said, obviously determined.

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**About Hikari: **Hikari Tsurugino was the main character of the Super NES game Makeruna Makendo (Kendo Rage in the U.S.). For those of you who've played the game, "Jo" was actually her dubbed name, and she wasn't originally an American girl visiting Japan; she was Japanese by birth. On the bright side, her dub name is the namesake of Joe, my original character.

You can find the game either on Ebay or at ROMNation, my favorite downloading site. If you want to download it, ROMNation will ask you to vote, but doing so is well worth your time, since it's one of the few ROM sites that work.


	2. Across the Rocks We Go

And so, Hikari and Joe started their adventure, with their weapons drawn and Baby Mario on Hikari's back. They set foot up some nearby cliffs, with the aid of some white rubber balls and a purple-spotted block. Shortly after reaching the top of the plateau, a Shy Guy spotted and confronted them.

"Hey, King Bowser wants Baby Mario, dead or alive," the Shy Guy said. "Hand him over or I'll call for backup."

"I'd rather get into a fight, first," Hikari answered.

The Shy Guy then turned around and whistled for help. Some fellow Shy Guys and a walking flower came to his aid. They all jumped at Hikari, ready to give her a punch in the head, but she gracefully jumped out of their way, catching a Bonus Flower while in midair. Joe fired a slingshot pellet from a short distance away, and knocked the flower out. The Shy Guys then spread out, and this time, only one of them made a second jump at Hikari, only to be sliced in half. The remaining Shy Guys drew their slingshots, but Hikari then passed Baby Mario over to Joe to catch them off guard, before firing a triple-shot from her sword.

After Joe recollected his used pellets, the two—or three, if you counted Baby Mario—continued their path across the rugged terrain, only to notice a small cloud with wings hovering in the air.

"You see that?" Joe asked Hikari. "You never know what's inside them, so always look out for them. Meanwhile, why don't we pop this one open."

He fired a pellet at the winged cloud, and a staircase formed in front of them.

"Perfect," Joe said. "Now we can get a view of the land ahead of us."

They proceeded up the stairs and onto a floating balcony, only to have a flying Shy Guy ambush them from behind and snatch Baby Mario. Hikari chased after it with sword at hand, while Joe got another pellet ready. Right when she almost fell off the edge, the Fly Guy turned around and taunted her to "come get me." It flew around in a small circle, but Joe connected it with a slingshot pellet, causing it to drop Mario. Hikari front-flipped off the platform, caught Mario in her hands, and gracefully connected her feet with the rocky surface below, while the Fly Guy landed on its head, crushing the propeller that kept it airborne and losing consciousness.

"All right, rotten evildoers, no one's gonna stand in my way," Hikari yelled. "Here I go!"

She raced ahead towards a pipe, only to fall into the mouth of one of two Pirahna Plants which suddenly sprouted from the ground. Meanwhile Joe was still scanning his surroundings, but fortunately for Hikari, he came back down and killed it, allowing her to climb out. She then slashed the other plant with her sword, causing it to shrink into nothing.

"Hikari, don't race ahead without me like that," Joe said. "We're headed to the same destination, so we gotta look out for eachother."

"Okay. Then again, I've been on another quest before, and I was on my own."

"Anyway, there's a pipe here, so we can go either straight or down. What do you say?"

"I say let's flip a coin. Heads, we skip this one, tails, we go down."

Joe did so, and it landed on tails.

"Down the pipe it is," he said.

The pipe lead to an underground cavern with numerous waterfalls in the distance. Upon exiting the pipe, the two were met with another Fly Guy.

"Greetings," the Fly Guy said. "Hit all the balloons and Fly Guys floating around, and we'll tell you a secret. You get twenty shots."

"Cool," Joe commented. "This is a good opportunity for some target practice. I'm up for it. Hikari, go look for another pipe while I'm at this. Forget what I said a minute ago for now."

She nodded in response, before hopping down from the ledge that they were standing on, followed by another ledge down. The first thing she saw was a brown, spherical rock just slightly shorter than her. She rolled it to the other side of the corridor, where there was another ledge that would've been impossible even to grab onto without the rock. She then noticed some kind of face carved into the rock.

Meanwhile, Joe continued firing away, hitting and missing the remaining targets. As soon as the last of them were gone, both Hikari and the Fly Guy came back to him.

"Wow, you are good at this," the Fly Guy said first. "Here's a secret: If you feed something to a tulip, it will sprout eight Healing Stars before disappearing."

"You mean, like, that one over there?" Joe asked, pointing to the same one Hikari had passed.

"Exactly," the Fly Guy answered.

"Oh good," Hikari commented. "I could use something like that." Joe then punched a green-spotted block, and a matching Yoshi egg emerged.

"Use that to feed the flower with," Joe advised.

That's exactly what they did.

"Joe, you should come see some carving on that boulder," Hikari said.

They ran over to it.

"Interesting," Joe commented. "It's a Chomp Rock. A long time ago, people used Chomps like guard dogs. Rumor has it that Chomps still do exist, whether on chains or moving freely."

After emerging from underground and grabbing two Bonus Flowers, our heroes climbed further up into the open via some rotating platforms. They passed a small rock tunnel housing two more walking flowers, and upon emerging, found themselves in what formed to be a rock shaft.

"Well, always gotta have hope," Hikari said while jumping to slash a Winged Cloud. A plant seed fell to the ground, and then sprouted into a large, tall flower. She and Joe used the leaves as platforms to reach the top. In one direction was yet another Winged Cloud, but that only lead backwards. Another Chomp Rock was spotted where the path continued, but Joe decided to see what was inside the Winged Cloud first. A final Bonus Flower was revealed.

"Wait right here, while I get that last one," Joe said, knowing how practical it would be while he retrieved his used pellet. Upon returning, the two continued their path, passing the Chomp Rock and some Shy Guys and Piranha Plants. Joe jumped into a floating ring of stones and flowers, but there would be no Bonus Game for now.


	3. Watch Out Below!

Thank you, LordBudFerg, for reviewing my story, and congratulations for being the first to review. I always appreciate getting reviews, as long as they're constructive ones, not flames. By the way, Kamek only appeared in Yoshi's Island and Tetris Attack, and neither game specified his gender, so it is debatable. Okay, no big deal.

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Some Chomps waited out in the distance for Hikari and Joe to pass by.

"There they are," the lead Chomp said.

Meanwhile…

"I think we should give our legs a rest, don't you?" Hikari asked Joe. She said that just one second too early, because just then, an expanding circular shadow appeared beneath them. They made a run for it right before a Chomp consumed the earth that they were previously standing on.

"On second thought, maybe we shouldn't," said the redhead. Another Chomp fell to the ground and consumed a fleeing Shy Guy. The two jumped over the produced pit as they literally headed for the hills—or actually, an opening in a hill. Hikari jumped again, this time, to take the contents of a Winged Cloud—in this case, a Bonus Flower. The Chomps continued to rain down like meteors as the couple passed some Shy Guys and a couple of metal stakes, until they got to their sanctuary.

Upon leaving the sunlight, the two slowed down as they walked through a ring of stars.

"I think we lost them now," Joe said.

"I guess it was the Chomps that created this tunnel, but that pipe doesn't exactly look natural," Hikari said.

"People construct these pipes as passageways between different areas, so that they don't erode and cave in," Joe answered. "By the way, I understand that Chomps can't eat anything this hard. I suppose we should spend some time wherever this one leads."

"Good idea," Hikari said.

At the bottom of the pipe was a dark chamber which housed some Shy Guys.

"Welcome," one of the Shy Guys said to the humans. "Did you come here seeking refuge from the Chomps?"

"Yes, exactly," Joe said.

"Figures," the Shy Guy said.

"Actually," Hikari started, "we're on our way to Bowser's Castle. Someone told us that there's a princess being held captive there, and that she can rid us of some magic that was cast on us."

"Well, it's not everyday that a human comes around, so make yourselves at home," said another Shy Guy.

"Actually, we only started our quest, like, fifteen minutes ago, but thanks for offering," said Joe. "Though I don't mind spending maybe ten or fifteen minues here."

"Suit yourself," said the first Shy Guy.

Fifteen minutes later, the two preteens climbed back up the pipe, and continued down the tunnel. After digging through some particularly soft soil, Hikari climbed up to a higher ledge via a white rubber ball, and Joe followed her. They made a left turn, which led to sunlight and a purple-spotted block resting among a few stone blocks. Hikari struck the spotted block with her sword, and Joe used the blocks as stepping stones to climb up an earthen shaft, but to no avail. They both came back and took the other route, through some twisting tunnels, until they noticed another ring of stars in the sunlight. Joe walked into it, but standing where he and Hikari were, they could only see the land that they already had explored. The pits from today's Chomp storm were exactly what proved that. They continued through the rest of the tunnel, and reached yet another opening.

"Isn't this a nice view," Joe said, as he allowed Mario to get a view of the ocean.

"It sure is," Hikari replied. "Too bad that's not what we came here to do."

"Well, there's only one hang glider, but then again, one of us has to carry Mario."

"Well, Mario was my boyfriend, so I'll carry him while you take the air. How's that?"

"Sure."

Hikari jumped down from the hill as Joe glided through another short tunnel. On his way to the last ledge, some small ghosts flew back and forth in various directions, making the air less than safe for him. Meanwhile, Hikari had the safe route to herself while passing through some more boroughs. Upon reaching another wall, she had to jump and thrust her sword into the edge in order to proceed, but she was successful. Joe finally made it to a ledge with a pipe, and was able to help Hikari climb to where he landed. She thanked him, and they continued their journey to Bowser's Castle via the nearby pipe.

Down at the other end of the pipe, Hikari jumped and slashed a winged cloud to find a second Bonus Flower. A Fly Guy swooped down at her, but this time, she was fast enough to respond with a 360 slash. Joe successfully noticed a small Piranha Plant on the ground ahead, and struck it with a slingshot pellet, making the mostly clear path ahead of them even safer. Or so it seemed. All of the sudden, another menacing Chomp dived down on them, barely missing them by inches.

"Not again," Hikari and Joe both said. Fortunately for them, the ring of rocks and flowers was dead ahead, but this time, only two of the flowers had bloomed. Hikari jumped into the ring, and was actually lucky enough to enter a bonus game this time.

She suddenly disappeared from Joe's sight, along with Mario who was on her back, and the next place they found themselves in was a strange room with some kind of game board. Hikari and Mario were each placed on a circular pillar on opposite sides of the room in front of the board. Hikari was on her feet, while Mario was sitting on his respective pillar. An anonymous voice suddenly spoke.

"FLIP CARDS," said the voice. "State which square you would like to flip, and collect the item shown. If you get Kamek, you lose everything. Choose the center square to quit."

"Gee, I sure hope one of them has diapers," said the big-nosed girl. "In fact, I can tell Mario needs a new one right now from where I'm standing."

She then started with the game.

"Lower left," she commanded.

Some kind of glove was revealed.

"Lower right."

A Toady bird was revealed.

"Center right."

A star labeled "20+" was exposed.

"Upper left."

Another Toady was revealed.

"Upper center"

A winged cloud was revealed.

"Well, I think I've gotten enough for now. Wouldn't want to lose all of those, would I? Center."

Meanwhile…

"C'mon, Hikari. Don't take too long." Joe was waiting frantically for Hikari to return, in case more Chomps would raise themselves in the air and strike down. Fortunately for him, none ever did while Hikari was absent. Suddenly, there she was, in front of him.

"Oh, thank god you're back," said Joe. "There's a pipe ahead of us, and we can use it to outrun the Chomps again."

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Okay, so there's my first reference to Hikari's nose, but that wasn't what I referred to at the beginning of this story; that was obviously just an add-in joke. The first real reference will take place relatively soon (in Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, to be exact). If you want a hint, you'll know what it is if you've ever played Yoshi's Story.


	4. The Cave of Chomp Rock

Thanks to the Jewish Holidays, I'm finally getting a break from all the homework and reading I get at school. By the way, LordBudFerg, you're right, Kamek is male. I checked the game's prologue and gone out of my way to change that. Thanks for reviewing.

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No Chomps had attacked, but Hikari and Joe continued their way via the pipe that the latter had pointed out. Not surprisingly, they found themselves in an underground corridor.

"So, win anything cool?" Joe asked.

"Sure did," Hikari replied, taking out the cards she won a few minutes ago. "I got a Winged Cloud—"

"RUN!" Joe suddenly said as he noticed a Chomp Rock rolling their way. They passed a post and a wooden crate, the latter which got crushed by the boulder, and then jumped on some overgrown, flat-headed mushrooms. The rock was stopped by a second post, but Hikari tripped on her mushroom, and Baby Mario was sent tumbling into a shallow pit containing four white, Pac-Man-like plants. The plants then hopped slowly towards Mario, ready to take a bite of him each.

"Use the Winged Cloud!" Joe commanded, taking a shot at the Nipper Plants. Having remembered what Joe did during the fight with Kamek earlier today, Hikari drew her Winged Cloud card and tossed it into the air, turning the plants into Winged Clouds. By then, Joe was already on his way to retrieve Mario, and Hikari hopped back onto the ground as well. She took swipes at the produced Winged Clouds, but they were all empty.

A short distance later, the path split into two, and the heroes chose the right path. It turned out to be a dead end giving shelter to several mole-like creatures with lanterns, but they also found a Bonus Flower, which Joe collected. Back at the previous intersection, the couple took the left path. This time, the path split again, into four paths. Another Chomp Rock rolled in on them from the leftmost path, but they were quick to elude it. The rock collided with another Chomp Rock resting on the middle-right path, sending it down another slope, and continued down the far right path. They chose the far left path.

"Glad to be out of that cramped corridor," Joe said as they entered a spacious chamber in the cave that spanned out for at least a single mile.

"Me too," Hikari said. "Hey, look! A ring of stars," she continued, pointing to one hovering above a nearby ledge.

"Perfect," Joe replied. "Let's get that and see what's up ahead."

What they noticed next was some white balls of fuzz floating down to the ground. Upon impact, they sprouted into Nipper Plants. Upon looking above, they noticed these Nipper spores spread out on the ceiling here and there.

"Guess we shouldn't hang around here too long," Hikari said, as another Nipper spore parachuted down.

"Nope," replied Joe.

The two continued, and Hikari grabbed another Bonus Flower hovering above some mushrooms as they hopped from ledge to ledge. They then found an escape route through the floor, but the path narrowed back down. Another Nipper Plant landed and sprouted a few yards in front of them, but it was easily dispatched by Hikari's sword. The two continued up a shaft via some rock ledges and a mushroom, and further down into another corridor blocked by a Chomp Rock. If they could, they would have tried to move the rock outwards, but it was in too deep. Joe pushed the rock further into the tunnel, until he and Hikari could feel the ceiling rise.

"Hope this is the way out of here," Joe said as he used the Chomp Rock as a stepping stone to reach an alcove above them. It was a dead end, but it was free of Nipper Plants, and he did find yet another Bonus Flower. Hikari then followed him up.

"So anyway, what do these other two cards do?" Hikari asked, taking them out.

"This one has the healing power of twenty stars, and this increases your strength and lets you climb walls," Joe answered, pointing to the 20+ Star and the Glove respectively.

"Cool," Hikari replied. "Can't wait to play that game again."

"Did you know about the other five games?"

"There are six in all?"

"Yep. I'll let you find out on your own as long as we're on our way, though."

They climbed back down into the corridor, leaving the Chomp Rock behind them. They were just a short distance towards the exit, but they first had to climb a rather steep slope before actually leaving the cave.

"It sure feels good to see sunlight again," Hikari commented as the two abandoned the cave. A ring of rocks and flowers was just half a mile ahead of them, and they raced past several Pirahna Plants and a Fly Guy on their way. Joe beat Hikari to the ring, and was transported to the same place Hikari found herself previously. However, instead of nine squares, there were seven on the board this time.

"SCRATCH AND MATCH," announced the unknown voice. "Choose three squares and uncover the pictures hidden. Three Mushrooms: two items. Three Flowers: three items. Three Stars: five items. One of each: one item. Mushroom, Flower, Star in that order: eight items."

"Upper right," Joe commanded.

A white glove holding a rag cleaned that square off, revealing a Mushroom.

"Center."

A Star was revealed.

"Lower right."

A Flower was revealed. A fanfare sounded off celebrating Joe's victory, and he won a star marked "10+."

"The first fort is up ahead," said Joe as he returned from his game.


	5. Burt the Bashful's Fort, part 1

"What fort?" Hikari asked. "You mean that wooden building?"

"Exactly," Joe replied.

"What's in there that we need?"

"On this island, there are five forts and five castles. Each castle contains an orb, and each fort contains the key to one of the castles. When we collect all the orbs, they will transport us to the island where Bowser's Castle is located."

"Well, I've never been afraid of ghosts or anything, so let's go."

And so they entered through the front door. Up ahead of them were some rotating maces on the floor, walls, and ceiling, but less obvious were the suspicious wooden walls on the left and right, which were rumoured to be possessed by evil spirits. Pieces of paper, each of which had a magic spell written on them, were pinned up on most sections of the walls, but a few were missing here and there.

"All kinds of traps could be set here," said Joe. "Let's be careful."

The two humans proceeded towards the maces, but along the way, they heard a loud slam behind them. They turned their heads to find an aforementioned wall section having collapsed. It lifted itself back up in hopes of ever finding another hapless victim, but one of the wall sections near the humans took its shot at crushing them. Hikari made a run forward, gracefully dodging the maces, but Joe, unable to respond fast enough, flung Baby Mario the opposite direction before being flattened. Thankfully, the walls adjacent to Mario both had anti-ghost papers, rendering him safe for the moment.

"Joe? Mario?" asked Hikari upon realizing she had accidentally ditched them. She was about to backtrack, but then she could see Joe coming back with the baby. "Joe, you've healed yourself?"

"Yep," the boy answered. "And it's a good thing I played the bonus game."

"Thank god Mario's okay, too," said the cone-nosed girl. "Otherwise, we might as well give up on finding the princess."

"Alright, then let's—" the boy then noticed they were at a dead end. "Go."

"Actually, we can go through here," Hikari said, pointing to an opening in the wall to their right. It ran from the ceiling to the floor and was just wide enough for either of them to walk through without having to squeeze by.

"Hikari, do we make a great team or what!"

When the path opened up again, the two heroes noticed two short, fat clowns hopping in their direction, one bouncing off the other. With their weapons drawn, the Hikari and Joe concentrated on sidestepping the Bashfuls' pounces, saving their offense as a last resort. While keeping an eye on the Bashfuls, though, Joe noticed a Bonus flower and dived under his target on his way to claim it. They then moved passed the Bashfuls and hopped on a wooden platform that was hovering up and down near another wall. The Bashfuls weren't fast enough to keep up, but the humans were still careful enough to make sure their foes didn't hop on with them. When they got high enough, Joe found an opening at the top of the wall behind them, which he and his partner would use to escape and proceed.

"Through here," he pointed out as he brought Baby Mario off his back. Hikari grabbed onto the ledge and climbed in, while the boy put the baby up first before climbing on. The Bashfuls couldn't jump high enough to reach them, and thus gave up and continued their own game. After a short distance of crawling through the narrow passage, Hikari suddenly gave a "whoa!" as her arm fell through the floor, prompting Joe to stop moving. However, a look through the trap door confirmed that they were above a solid floor and not a bottomless pit or lava pool.

"Hikari, catch!" Joe called after the girl hopped down. He dropped Baby Mario into her arms, and they continued their journey after he made his way down. A short distance later, they came face to face with another pair of Bashfuls, followed by a lava pool which impeded those who had tried to take the Castle Key before. Out of the corner of her eye, though, Hikari noticed a second Bonus Flower, which she took the time to claim. After making their way past the Bashfuls, they hopped onto a platform hovering back and forth above the lava, and then another one, before jumping onto an island floating on the lava. There were no walls, so assuming they were safe, they decided to give their legs a rest before continuing. Just then, a heavy section of the ceiling fell down, crushing them _and_ Baby Mario.

They were all dead. Or were they?


	6. Burt the Bashful's Fort, part 2

Hikari did survive the crush, but she noticed that Joe and Baby Mario had mysteriously disappeared.

"What happened?" she asked. "There aren't even any bodies here." She then stood up despite the amount of pain that she suffered from the ceiling. "Joe, Mario, I don't know what happened to you two, but I will avenge both of you. Bowser won't get away with whatever he and his minions did."

A platform enabled the big-nosed swordsgirl to cross the rest of the lava, but some fireballs hopped dangerously close. On the bright side, a star ring was also nearby, making it easy for her to know which direction to go and partially healing her injuries as she leapt through.

Down into the next hallway, the walls were devoid of the Ofuda papers and were allowed to fall freely. Hikari made a run for the other end of the hall, but stopped herself right before she almost ran into another lava pool.

"Whoa," she said. "Good thing I noticed that. Now, how do I get to the other side?" She then noticed two winged clouds, one over the lava and the other above the floor. She leapt and slashed the latter one, getting yet more healing stars which recovered her even more. Then, she fired a vertical triple-shot towards the former cloud, hoping it would create a set of stairs similar to the one she found at the beginning of the adventure. To her luck, a set of steps appeared, forming a bridge over the lava.

Next was another lava pit, which contained a giant see-saw. She hopped onto the barely-moving see-saw, but under her weight, her end started to sink into the lava, thankfully stopping itself instead of coming off the wedge. She walked to the other end, sinking that end and causing the end behind her to rise. It seemed like a dead end, but she accidentally walked into a Bonus Flower. She walked back to reverse the leverage, and then in one fluid motion, turned around, ran across the runway, and hopped onto the ledge above. Suddenly…

"Hikari, there you are," said a male voice. Hikari turned around and noticed who she knew to be Joe.

"JOE!" she screamed in excitement. "I thought you were dead." She then hopped down to get closer to him.

"Actually," he replied, "me and Mario were transported back to the ring that we passed right before entering this place. It's a good thing Mario came with me to the bonus game, or he would've been history."

"So then, that means we _gotta_ find any rings we come across. Anyway, I just noticed a Bonus Flower on the ledge above you."

"Oh good. Maybe if we work together, one of us can take it. Here, me and Mario will get on the far end of that see-saw, and you reach for the ledge you found."

"Got it." That's exactly what they did.

"Okay," Joe called. "I'm going to run up this ramp, and then you take your turn, okay?"

"Sure," Hikari answered.

Next in their path was another ledge across yet more lava, but it would be impossible to reach if not for four platforms revolving on a single axis. Of course, it wouldn't be too easy since those platforms were revolving horizontally, but the preteens were successful in crossing.

"I'm guessing we need to go through that door to find the key we're looking for, huh?" Hikari commented, pointing to a locked door on their left.

"Okay, two choices," said Joe. "We can either take this pipe, or we can cross yet more lava. I'll cross the lava."

"I'll take the pipe, then," said the girl.

"If the path splits again or ends for either of us, we'll regroup here," said the boy.

The room across the pipe was dark, and what little light had lit the room was coming from three slow-moving fireballs. Hikari was careful not to touch them, but after a few seconds, they expanded, lighting the place up.

"Wow! I'll bet I'd be rich with all those coins," exclaimed the girl as she noticed an entire stockpile of golden coins in the light. "But I hope the key is here as well." As the light dimmed back down, she waited for the fireballs to expand again to see if there was a key around. Light back up they did, but she didn't see any key.

"Oh well, might as well keep some of these anyway," she said, before returning to the locked door.

Meanwhile, before Joe could even start crossing the lava pit, a large, red, dome-shaped head rose out of the boiling liquid. It had a gigantic mouth with a pair of fangs, and threatened to eat Joe and Mario alive if they dared to cross his domain. But a single slingshot pellet was enough to put it down…for now. The boy made his advance over numerous moving platforms, to find a dead end with a clay flower pot at the other side. In the meantime, the lava monster still had its menacing eyes above the lava, keeping a lookout for its prey.

"Okay, let's try something," said Joe as he launched another slingshot pellet at the pot. Upon impact, the shot exploded, shattering the pot and revealing the key he and Hikari had been looking for.

"Bingo," he said, taking the prize. "Now, let's find Hikari." Just when he was about to cross the lava back to the door, the same Gargantuan Blaaargh raised its hot head again.

"Okay," the boy said. "Hungry? Eat this!" Joe fired yet another slingshot pellet, and this one encased the Blaaaarg in ice, sending it back down into the depths. Like last time, he had no trouble crossing the platform bridge back to where he and his partner split up.

Upon regrouping, Joe wasted little time opening the door. The two preteens walked in, and found themselves in yet another hallway. Joe struck down a winged cloud, revealing five healing stars which Hikari needed and took. They then ran past a single Bashful, a door on their left, another lone Bashful, and then found a star ring which Joe took. At the end of the hall was a red, metallic door, which the boy entered, only to find himself falling into a cellar. Hikari looked down towards the floor, and then took a leap of faith and followed her partner. There, they were met by Kamek and a single Bashful.

"We meet again, Kamek" said Hikari.

"So, you're still on the baby's side, Hikari-baby? Then get a load of this!" He took off on his broomstick, sprinkling magic dust which somehow only affected the Bashful, and then came back and left the other direction, sprinkling more dust on the Bashful. The clown ball then stretched out in two different directions and became huge, taking up a portion of the basement.

Not knowing what to do, the two kids took off in different directions, hoping Burt the Bashful was chasing the other person. Joe was the one being chased, and found refuge in a floor gap next to a wall. Burt bounced off the wall, while Hikari didn't know what to do, Joe readied his slingshot and fired a pellet at the big clown, which merely bounced off. Burt was now chasing after Hikari, who waited for him to get close before taking off in one direction or another. Joe fired another shot, which this time, exploded in contact with Burt, pushing him off to the side as Hikari ran.

After a few seconds of shrugging off the attack, Burt continued to bounce up and down again, prompting the two kids to run off in either direction, and once again, Hikari was his target. Joe took the opportunity to fire another exploding pellet as Hikari found refuge in the floor near the wall. Burt recovered himself, and then turned around to attack the boy, who was all the way across the room and had enough time and distance to prepare another explosion. Meanwhile, Hikari held her sword out, and it glowed with energy. Five seconds later…

"KENDO-HA!" She fired a stream of electricity at the clown as Joe escaped his path to the right. This bought him enough time to fire one last shot at Burt, right after he even lifted himself off the floor. The ball-shaped clown then deflated, rapidly bouncing off the walls, floor, and ceiling before exploding into two different colors of magic dust. The first castle key was revealed, and Hikari took it.

"Now, to find a way out of here," said Joe. He noticed a crack in a wall, which he blew up with a slingshot pellet. "And it's a good thing you saved me the energy, Hikari. That's the last of it until we find a Full Flower from a bonus game. If you hadn't landed a blow at that thing, we'd be stuck here."


	7. Hop! Hop! Donut Lifts

The opening in the wall led the two heroes to a grassy cliff. They noticed a sign that read:

_DANGER_

_Donut blocks fall under weight. Don't linger._

If anything else, they could also see the next flower ring about a mile away, and thankfully, there were only a few Fly Guys along the way, though they were still dangerous, as they had the advantage of staying airborne.

"If either of us falls, it'll probably take forever to get back up," said Joe. "That is, if we even do survive. Let's be careful."

"Okay, got it," said Hikari. "I'll take the platforms, and you take the donut bridge. How about it?"

"Let's go, then."

Nothing had happened during the crossing of the first crevasse. Hikari hopped across a spinning platform cycle similar to the one she crossed in the previous fort, to a lone platform moving up and down, and then another platform cycle before touching solid ground again, while Joe only had to cross one gap on the donut bridge before reaching the same grassy platform with her. Another crevasse followed, with a stationary platform cycle and another donut bridge side by side. Hikari could see a Bonus Flower up ahead, just under the far end of the donut bridge, and chose the platforms while Joe chose the bridge. Upon landing on one, the platforms revolved forward under her weight, and acting fast, she made a leap each half-revolution of the platforms, driving it forward to the next cliff.

In Joe's path, a Fly Guy hovered over the bridge and noticed the preteens, but luckily for them, it didn't attack them. The next grassy ledge required them to climb, with the aid of some purple spot blocks.

"You look like you could use some help," the Fly Guy said from behind, a few seconds after they stepped onto the grass. "How about if I carry the baby for you?"

"Would you please-" said Hikari.

"Hold on," Joe cut in. "We can't just go ahead and trust everyone who talks to us. For all we know, this guy might only want to bring Mario to Bowser's Castle." Hikari flinched upon hearing this.

"Whoa! You're right," said Hikari. "If it weren't for you, who knows what would happen to him?"

"In that case, maybe I should help you with those blocks," said the Fly Guy, pointing to several familiar white blocks with purple spots.

And up the hillside they went, collecting a Bonus Flower and entering a ring of stars along the way.

"Thanks, Mr. Fly Guy," said Hikari after they reached the top.

"I'd help a human anytime I saw one," it said. "Want me to tell you a secret?"

"Sure," answered Joe.

"There's a bonus flower in a floating block of gray soil, right before the flower ring. Most folks overlook it, but you won't thanks to my advice."

"Thanks," said Hikari and Joe.

From there on, up until said ring of flowers, the trek had been mostly uneventful. It only consisted of another tall grassy hillside to climb, a short, almost flat stretch of grass with Shy Guys playing on it, and a final gap to cross via more donut blocks.

"Well, here's the goal ring, so that Bonus Flower must be here somewhere," said Hikari.

"I believe we just passed it," said Joe. "It was right above us. If my slingshot had any Magic Power left in it, I'd be able to blast that dirt."

"If it weren't so high in the air, I'd try something of my own to dig it up."

"That gives me an idea." Joe took something out of his pocket, and tossed it into the air. Actually, it wasn't a card; it was some kind of cookie. Suddenly, a human-sized tyrannosaurus with a round snout, a saddle, and a pair of boots came rushing to their aid.

"Hikari, hop right on," said Joe. Hikari did exactly that and ordered him to jump. She hopped off in mid-air and struck the dirt multiple times in less than a second, and the reptile landed safely on one of the donut blocks. The dirt was dissolved, and the absence of the flower suggested that she already took it.

"Thanks," she said to the dinosaur, before turning to Joe. "What was that thing anyway?"

"It's a Yoshi Cookie," said Joe. "If you throw it into the open, Yoshi's come flocking towards it. That is, if there even are any around."

"So that cute little dino is called a Yoshi?"

"Exactly. Now hop into that ring."

Hikari did so, and won a chance to play a bonus game. She found herself playing Scratch and Match, where the speaker recited all the same rules as when Joe played previously.

"Upper right," she commanded.

A mushroom was revealed.

"Upper left."

Another mushroom was displayed.

_Please let me get another mushroom., I didn't want to get that last flower for nothing,_ the girl thought with hope.

"Lower left."

A flower was revealed.

"Oh well."

She came back out of the flower ring.

"I didn't win anything," she said to Joe. "But hey, this world is full of surprises."

"Well at least you tried," said Joe. "Of course, we still can't enter the first castle until I get a Full Flower."

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**Reminder:** Suggestions are always welcome. Feel free to leave reviews with suggestions as to what happens along the way in any given chapter. Do keep in mind, however, that it's up to me whether I'll accept it, and if you post suggestions for an already written chapter, it will have to wait until I finish this fic and start a refined version of it. And no flames; I'll only use those to keep my fireplace lit.


	8. How to Use Your Nose

Like I said at the beginning of this fic, I will make the big-nose idea relevant to this fanfic

Like I said at the beginning of this fic, I will make the big-nose idea relevant to this fanfic. Starting this chapter, Joe will now have just as big of a nose as Hikari. More author's notes at the bottom.

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It was already getting dark, and the two children found themselves back on rocky terrain. Ahead of them was a rock wall with an opening on a ledge, only accessible via a familiar white ball. This seemed to be the only practical route to take; the alternative would be to walk all the way around the canyon, not knowing how wide it was or if they would even follow the right path.

"I'd say, let's hit the hay inside that cave for tonight," Joe suggested.

"Sure, why not," Hikari answered. For the next four or five seconds, the two were silent while walking towards the cave, before the girl continued. "Oh, and do you think we'll ever be able to get baby stuff for Mario anywhere on this island?"

"I'd be more concerned about finding decent food and water," said Joe. "I mean, we're gonna have to kill animals just for _raw_ meat. I was planning on returning home in a few days, and especially to support you and the baby, I don't know how long the food I packed is going to last. And even if there were any shopping—"

"Okay, Joe, you don't have to ramble on."

Upon entering the cave, the two travelers were met by a human wizard.

"Ah, you must be the Nose Children that appeared in my vision," said the wizard. "Call me Izir."

"The Nose Children? My nose isn't big," Joe said in response.

"It will be, tomorrow morning. You two are very tired, so I have fixed you a place to stay for tonight."

"Wait, how am I supposed to trust you?" asked Hikari. "Like my friend said, anyone could be a servant of King Bowser who only wants to take Mario away."

"Young lass, I understand you found many coins inside the first fort," said Izir. "I can convert that gold into many supplies for you." Just then, some of Hikari's coins flew out into the air above them, and some of it transformed into baby supplies such as a bottle, a pacifier, milk, diapers, baby powder, jars of baby food, some toys, some baby clothing.

"Thanks," Hikari said. "Mario would've been screwed if not for you."

"And, young man, I know that you need a refill of magic power, so I will magically restore the energy you consumed against Burt the Bashful." A few seconds elapsed while he was casting the spell. "Now, rest up. I know it's not much, but maybe this will help you." Some more of Hikari's gold rose into the air and transformed into a pair of sleeping bags and pillows.

While they slept, Joe could hear the smooth sound of Hikari breathing. It wouldn't surprise anyone, as her nostrils had also been enlarged, now taking in much more air than even Mario possibly could. If anything else had been amplified, it was her sense of smell, which could now possibly detect even the normally faint smell of baby milk with ease. In fact, she didn't have to even whiff to find out that Mario, whom she held in her sleep for safety, needed to be changed. She never said a word while waking up and cleaning him up, but if Joe's nose was just as big as hers (yet), the smell would've woken him up too.

The next morning, breakfast was prepared for all three humans, who woke up ready to chow down. As they finished eating a plateful of eggs and bacon each (except for Mario, who had some applesauce), Izir got ready to explain what he meant by "Nose Children."

"Okay, so what did you mean by—" Hikari couldn't finish the question, but the magician was already answering.

"In my vision, two preteen children with big noses will travel to the Castle of King Bowser, while carrying a baby. They will save a princess, and in return, the princess will rid them of any magic that was cast upon them. The infant will return to his true age, and will be the true hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Hikari, I understand that some magic was inflicted upon you, which caused your nose to enlarge and change shape. It might seem awkward, but you could put that new nose of yours to good use, in more ways than one. And Joseph, you could also use some nasal magic of your own as well."

Three magical shapes were then directed towards Joe, and caused his nose to also enlarge. This time, instead of a cone, it ballooned outwards and took the same shape of Mario's nose, though much, much larger. His nostrils happened to be under the fat end of said nose.

"Excuse me for one minute," said Izir as he walked towards a wall. Hikari and Joe noticed three colored Yoshi eggs lined across said wall. The one on the left was yellow, the middle one was red, and the right one was flashing a multitude of colors per millisecond. The flashing egg also gave off some sort of light, but the wizard left it alone for the time being. He took the yellow and red ones instead, and opened it by waving his hand over it. The lower halves remained intact, and there was nothing inside. He brought one of the eggs each to the Hikari and Joe.

"Place your nostrils over these eggs, and breathe deep. I shall explain the powers you'll obtain from them." They both did. The eggshells had no smell to them, but their nostrils started to burn and throb, having a similar sensation of eating really spicy food or getting one's eyes full of pepper spray. It was extremely painful, to the point where tears welled up in their eyes.

"What the hell are you trying to do to us?" Hikari asked after a few excruciating minutes of nasal pain.

"The substance you just inhaled contains powers that only one with a large enough nose could possibly utilize," answered Izir. "You must listen closely now. First, you can now use your noses to move light objects closer to you. Joe, you can go first. Try moving that flashing egg closer to you."

Joe faced the egg in question, and inhaled deeply. The egg rolled towards him, and then rose from the floor towards his nose.

"Hikari, now you try," said the magician. Joe then placed the egg back on the floor, and Hikari tested her own breath on it.

"Good," said the wizard. "I will now place a spell on Mario. If he somehow falls off your back, he will be contained in a floating bubble, so that he does not get hurt. You can use your vacuum breath to draw him closer to you whenever that should happen." A few seconds of silence went by as the wizard performed his magic on Mario. "Next, you can also work up a great sneeze to protect yourself from light enemies. Just store some air into your nose for one second, and you can blow things away at will. Try it on the egg, Hikari."

The girl did exactly that, and the egg was blown all the way against the wall. Joe didn't need to be let known to breathe it towards him again and sneezing it back away.

"Very well," commented the wizard. "Finally, you now each have an individual skill based on the shape of your nose. Joe, yours can balloon to many times its size if you store enough air in it, allowing yourself to float upwards or downwards slowly. You can also use it to bounce projectiles off yourself if they approach you from the front. Hikari, yours can spin like a drill, allowing you to dispatch an enemy by inhaling. You can also shoot the tip of your nose off onto a wall, and it will let you climb walls or cross bottomless pits via an invisible energy string that keeps the tip connected. Feel free to try it right here."

The two children practiced their respective nasal skills, before the wizard concluded his seminar.

"Well done. Now, the cave you must pass through is very dark, so take the egg that you've been practicing with. I can create my own light in this cave by producing fire. Follow me outside, and I will show you the shortest way to the first castle."

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Do keep in mind that I would _**never **_write fanfiction where Mario's nose gets bigger. Also, I did mention "most humans" during chapter 1 of this fanfic. By "humans," I mean completely anime-style humans, not Luigi, Wario, etc.


	9. Navigating the Dark Underground

**Author's note:** For those of you who've read the previous chapter before this one was uploaded, I've named the wizard Izir. It's a random name conjured up with a series of dice rolls, in case you want to know.

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Hikari and Joe followed Izir into the broad daylight of the outdoors and back onto the ground. Izir chanted a magic spell, which caused a pipe to surface from beneath the rugged ground.

"If you ever need to return to any place you've been to, you can use the Zoppiki Talisman to teleport to any flower ring you've come across," Izir said to the children before retreating into his cave. Hikari and Joe barely had enough time to thank him before he was fully out of sight.

They then proceeded into the pipe, which led to a deep, dark underground shaft. It took them seconds to realize that they were falling, which gave Joe barely enough time to inflate his nose and soften his landing.

"Wow, what a fall," Hikari commented, her words echoing through the darkness.

"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Joe asked.

"Nope. I'm used to falling a hundred feet down," Hikari answered. "Landing on my feet is never a problem."

Joe then took the egg out which Izir had given to him and Hikari. There was only one corridor to walk down, so on they went.

"I'm glad I had something to break my fall," he said. "I just hope there are very few other humans on this island, if any."

"Me too," Hikari said.

If they had been somewhat older, Hikari and Joe would've looked like the parents of Baby Mario. Joe now shared the same nose shape as Mario, and Hikari had the same blue eyes, and the two of them looked quite like a couple.

A rubber ball came into view when the corridor ended. Hikari and Joe used this to hop onto a ledge above them, and around them, they saw two more balls on the floor some Lantern Guys pacing around near a pipe, and a Bonus Flower floating slightly above a much smaller ledge on the wall. Above them, a balloon was carrying a slightly larger white ball than the two they had just seen in this subterranean chamber. Apparently, these devices were much lighter than they appeared and could be picked up manually, despite their tendency to stay in place instead of rolling out from beneath someone's feet.

Joe bounced off of the smaller ball to snag the Bonus Flower in their view, and then took a deep enough breath to lure the balloon towards him. Hikari followed him, and let gravity drag the ball down by tapping the balloon with her sword. At risk of hitting a ceiling, she made the first attempt to locate yet another ledge to land on. Sure enough, she did spot one, which stood out thanks to several Lantern Guys lighting it up. Joe, having carefully watched her, bounced his way to the same ledge, and a mine elevator was spotted near the Lantern Guys.

"Excuse me," said Joe. "Do you guys own this mineshaft?"

"Nope," said one of the moles. "No one does anymore. In fact, this place has been abandoned for ages."

"No wonder it's so dark in here," Hikari responded.

"Feel free to use it if you got anyplace to go," said the other mole.

"Thanks," said Joe.

The moment they surfaced, another canyon could be seen only yards away. The two children also caught sight of a ring of stars, several winged clouds, a giant tulip, and another Bonus Flower, but there were also trenches housing Shy Guys waiting to rob passerby. Coins of solid gold floated in the air to lure victims into these traps.

Hikari and Joe walked by these pits, collecting whatever contents they could find in the winged clouds, and unaware of the lurking Shy Guys waiting to take Mario. One cloud contained a red, dome-shaped object with an exclamation point, but just before they could put that to any use, they found themselves surrounded by Shy Guys, some of which jumped on their backs. Instead of trying to run off with Mario, the ones that got them from behind simply threw him off of Hikari's back to pass over to one of its own while slowing them down. This, however, only caused a bubble to surround Mario and keep him out of their reach, but of course, they had slingshots to bring Mario down with. One of the shy guys used this technique, while the others aimed punches at the humans' noses. Both humans were knocked down, but their steeds were also knocked off in the process. Without thinking, Joe brought the egg down and smashed it onto the assailant in front of him, releasing Yoshi egg dust into the air around them and blinding both of them. Hikari, on the other hand, let out her first sneeze since their meeting with Izir, and blew her own opponent into the mouth of a Piranha Plant. The plant chocked on the masked thief and died, leaving its would-be meal still unable to escape the fluids inside. Joe was still suffering the effects from the newly released substance, but Hikari got up, elbowed the Shy Guy behind her, stabbed another shy guy through the mask, and then drew Mario closer to her. The last Shy Guy standing fled, while Hikari sliced the stunned one in half.

A few minutes went by, before Joe could get back up.

"Looks like we're gonna have to make due without the egg from here on," said Joe.

"Don't tell me they stole the egg. Did they?" asked Hikari.

"I got reckless and smashed it on one of the Shy Guys."

"Oh well, better for them to leave with a face full of egg dust than with something good." She then turned around and faced the switch. "By the way, I wonder what this does. Let's check it out."

The object in question felt rubbery like the numerous white balls they came across. Judging from this property, Hikari jumped on it, but this only caused a black circle to form near one of the trench walls. Apparently, it was a pipe; she and Joe could tell because there was a green ring around the black round patch.

Both children climbed down the pipe, to find themselves inside a crystal-lit cavern. In front of them was another winged cloud and a wall of hardened sand. Hikari sliced the cloud open, revealing a bouncing yellow star which she took right away. This only caused her and Joe to be sucked through the bases of their own noses. Physically, they could only float, but they could still see and hear everything around them.

Meanwhile, Mario was able to crumble the sand by spinning endlessly, causing his cape to whip around him. That's exactly what he was doing, and somehow, he could spot golden coins within the sand, and retrieve those coins above and below him by "drilling" through the sand. Soon enough, though, everyone was at the other side of the sandbar, and the star's energy had worn off, allowing the rest of the children's anatomy to resurface. It was pretty obvious that Mario had soiled himself, because Hikari and Joe immediately covered their noses and clamped them shut—which obviously took all five fingers with one hand.

"Mario, I wonder how long you've smelled like poop since we've eaten breakfast. Pee-you," said Hikari as she opened her backpack zipper with one hand.

"Tell me about it," said Joe. "Nothing sucks more than having a big nose, a big pair of nostrils, and a crappy smell filling them."

"Actually, if anything smells worse, I dreamed last night that Baby Mario was gigantic and needed a new diaper," said Hikari while she was busy dealing with Mario. "And his butt was facing me, too. Man, that was nauseating!" A few seconds later, she finished putting a new diaper on Mario. "I wish I could leave something better than this as a mark to leave here, but then again, we have nowhere else to put it. Oh well."

The two children went up a pipe near them, only to end up above the same pipe they entered previously. Climbing back out of the trench, Joe spotted some distinct cracks at the foot of the canyon, and fired an exploding slingshot pellet to form an opening. That opening only led to another deep shaft which they fell down. Once again, the underground was pitch black, and Joe immediately wished he hadn't wasted that precious egg. But, he had another plan in mind.

"Hikari, how about you walk in front of me, and I'll hold you by your hair so you don't fall down any pitfalls. I'll hold Baby Mario for now."

"Good idea," the cone-nosed girl responded. They walked slowly towards what happened to be the heads of many tall, overgrown, wilting mushrooms. What they didn't notice, though, was that they were growing hundreds of feet from a much lower floor from where they were, until Hikari almost fell. Thanks to Joe, she didn't, but they had no other means of knowing how to get across.

"HELLO," Joe shouted, but the walls were too far apart to produce an echo. Hikari then tried reaching her sword out to reach for a makeshift platform.

"I think I can feel something with my sword," she said, as her hopes were confirmed.

"Actually, I have a better idea," suggested Joe. "How about I carry you and float across this pit, and you can harpoon us if we get too low. How's that?"

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Hikari. It worked, and soon enough, they made it to the other side…and back through the surface again via a nearby pipe.

Joe leapt into the ring of flowers with Baby Mario, and got a chance to play Scratch 'N' Match.

"Lower right," he commanded.

A Mushroom was revealed.

"Center."

A Flower war revealed.

"Center right."

To the boy's luck, a star was exposed, reaping him (in no particular order) two Flashing Egg cards, three POW cards, a 20+ Star, a card bearing an S-marked flame, and another card bearing an S-marked ice cube.

"Whoooo! Man, that's exciting!" yelled Joe as he emerged from the ring. "Look at all these cards I got from Scratch 'N' Match!"

"Wow, you must have all the luck in this game," said Hikari casually.

"Luck is exactly what these games are all about." They hi-fived each other before moving into the nearby forest.


	10. Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy

Hikari and Joe had progressed a few yards into the forest, before coming up to the first Bonus Flower. The flower was hovering over a pitfall and in between two diagonal logs facing each other.

"Think we should get that?" asked Hikari, pointing to the flower.

"Sure. I'll let you take it while I'm holding Mario," answered Joe. Hikari then backed up a short distance, charged towards the prize, and dived across the pit, but the other side turned out to be a slope with a Pirahna Plant at the base. She slid feet first almost into the plant, and got both her legs caught in its maw. A screech for help cued Joe to leap across the pit and whip out one of his POW cards. Hikari was freed from the plant's grasp, and thankfully, had neither of her legs dismembered, though a 20+ Star was also used up to allow her to use them.

On the ledge above them, some small, round, green creatures with watermelon-striped pants hopped up and down, while several metallic spiked balls with legs and red, round noses walked around single file. The two heroes made it up the ledge and simply walked by. Up in the tree branches were a Bonus Flower, two flashing eggs similar to the one Izir gave them, and a small hut with a sign, which they stopped to read.

_Come back with the key hidden in this forest, and we can play a little game._

_Win, and you get…_

"Joe, didn't we see a key tied onto a balloon in that fuzzy-plant-infested cave?" asked Hikari?

"Yeah, I saw that, but judging from what the sign said, I doubt that's the right key," said Joe. "It said the key in this forest, so let's look out for that one."

Of course, the possibilities were endless where the key in question could've been. They decided that making it to the first castle and eventually finding the princess they were told of would be more important than finding a key and playing some game. They proceeded to jump down a ledge and pick up a Bonus Flower, which would ensure that they not be able to even return to the hut at all. Moving along, they were confronted by a large number of hovering white balls of fuzz. They moved slowly and were pretty easy to maneuver around, but the path was still full of other hazards. The two children picked up the last two Bonus Flowers along the way, but Joe accidentally landed into one while jumping for the last flower. The effect was to make him dizzy, and Hikari stopped him just in time before he fell into a pit along with Mario. The effects did wear off after a short time, but a Fly Guy swooped down in hopes of tripping one of the kids into that same pit. Instead, Hikari leapt over both the Fly Guy and the pitfall, and landed on one of two small, pink, walking balls with mouths and eyes at the top of their heads. The ball popped like a balloon and gave off a small puff of air which blew away both the other ball and the Fly Guy who tried this time to swoop between her legs. Both creatures were sent falling into the pitfalls, and Hikari leapt to the next ledge with Joe following her.

Hikari and Joe then came across a small stream with several small plank-bridges lining it. The water was waist-high, and they took this opportunity to bathe in it after more than a day of collecting sweat. Hikari, of course, had walked several yards away from Joe and Mario before all three of them took off their clothes. It obviously wasn't anything like at home or in a hot spring, but even as cold as the water was, it was still better than nothing.

Upon emerging from the water, Hikari smelled something which actually smelled sweet for a change. Come to think of it, she was getting rather hungry already, and so was Joe when she came back to him.

"Yeah, whatever it is, I'd like to find out," said Joe. "Only thing is, we don't know where it is."

"Maybe over there," Hikari said, pointing to a grassy plateau not too far away. They then noticed an arrow-ball in the tree branches, which Joe knocked to the ground with a slingshot pellet. The ball landed on the tip of a diagonal log, and both of them used it to reach the plateau's top.

The smell turned out to be a vine full of various fruits. Joe picked a batch of grapes off the vine, and squished each one of them so that Mario wouldn't choke on them while eating them. Hikari took whatever else was available, and shared some of the tasty treats with Joe.

Back at the stream, the goal ring was not too far away. It was Hikari's turn enter the flower ring, she got lucky enough to enter the bonus game. Even better was the fact that Joe still had Mario, which would mean she could focus on the game without listening to Mario cry, smelling his putrid diaper, or even worrying about him falling off his respective podium who knows how far down.

The game today was Scratch 'N' Match.

"Right," commanded Hikari.

A star was exposed.

"Bottom left."

A flower was revealed.

"Top left."

Another flower was revealed, which meant Hikari lost the game.

"Welcome back to the real world," said Joe after Hikari emerged from the flower ring. "The castle is not too far now."

"All right!" exclaimed Hikari. "Time to clean it up!"

……………………………………………………………………………………………

**Author's note:** If any Sonic the Hedgehog fans are reading this, I just posted another babyfic yesterday. However, I have no idea where it will go as of right now, and I'd like your ideas and opinions as to what should happen. If you have ideas, you can review that story, email me, or role-play with me through AIM. Again, my screen name is DMXrated01, like I mentioned in my profile. Thanks.


	11. I hope you enjoyed reading this fanfic

This fanfic will no longer be updated on I will continue to work on it and store chapters on my hard drive, but I need to develop the actual plot before I come back to it. When I do come back to it, I will be starting over with the fic, and will also come up with a different name. If anyone has any suggestions for plot, you can share it with me either through email, PM's, or by reviewing this fanfic. LordBudFerg, you're the only person who has ever reviewed this fanfic; thanks for doing so.


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